Divine avenger
You have been temporarily upgraded to become the dealer of divine justice. Your charge is to kill every being within the manor house of Lucifer, and raze the building and lands to the ground.
Temporary boosts:
All cooldowns reduced to 1 second (except legendary spells)
Mana regeneration increased by 1000%
Divine power added to all spells and skills. Increases damage to divine targets by 100%
Rage. Rage and power. That is what was flowing through me, and I welcomed it. Let it run rampant. Methodically, I moved through the different rooms in the basement. Each had several failed experiments, all were destroyed in bursts of spells. I stuck with stone spells, as I didn’t want to burn down the manor too soon. There would be time for that. Wolfmen that were more beastly than men, bat hybrids to give the most stalwart warriors nightmares, they all fell before my wrath. After a few uses, I unknowingly altered the stone shot spell into a stone lance spell, much better for destroying enemies. Entomb was changed to Stone Maiden, a play on the iron maiden of old. Against single beasts it was devastating.
Cavendish had been true to his word, as the prison I explored was completely empty. Iron bars separated the cells, each with a drain in the floor. There was no room for rats and no dripping water, so at least there was that. The final room in the basement was a massive storeroom, full of rare ingredients and materials. I closed the door behind me, ignoring the tempting treasures. I felt a pulse of approval through the powers that I was borrowing, and headed upstairs.
The first room I made it to in the manor was the kitchen, full of bustling servants. “[Shard rain].” I channeled mana into the spell, spraying the inside of the room with lances of stone. The unarmored servants fell swiftly to the onslaught, most not even getting a chance to see the person who struck them down. I moved through the kitched quickly, checking the nearby storerooms to make sure a servant or two hadn’t escaped. Clear, I moved back through the manor towards the faintest sounds of music. I was no music major, but it sounded like a repetitious three beat pattern. Waltz? No matter, I arrived shortly and kicked open the doors. I might have overdone it just a bit, as the doors exploded apart, peppering those near me with shards of wood.
“Ah, our guest of honor has arrived my children. Though with rather poor manners. Tsk, tsk.” A tall elf dressed in a fancy suit stood from his throne at the end of the room. The rest of the guests all turned to face me, anger written on their faces. They were all misshapen in some way. Some mockery of life. All with a gleam of madness in their eye. They all registered as unstable hybrids, levels ranging from 50 to 95.
Lucifer
Master vampire
Level 130
Lucifer has lived for centuries, extending his life by draining it from others. He has also greatly limited his vulnerabilities by enthralling a priestess and having her summon light beings for him to feast upon. Once he had acquired an immunity to blessed light and sunlight, he started experimenting on these captive beings. Forced breedings with himself resulted in unstable hybrids, all of which are mentally unsound. Though the conception rate is incredibly low, with hundreds of years he has managed to grow quite a large family. A large family that is utterly loyal and fanatical in their devotion to him.
“My children, what should we do with this unruly guest?”
Not wanting to give them a chance to attack, I started chanting, “Raging light, obliterate all before me. Blur away all form, leave nothing behind. Save [Whiteness].” I saw several eyes widen in fear at the chant, but most were grinning, anticipating ripping me limb from limb. Too bad for them. A small white ball shot out into the middle of the group before suddenly expanding into a massive white sphere. Even without mystic vision active, I could see the torrents of raging magic energy swirling and rampaging inside. Ten seconds later, and the sphere broke apart to reveal small piles of dropped gear.
“What have you DONE?!” Lucifer screamed, as his form expanded. Bulging muscles shredded his suit, while two bat wings exploded from his back. His nose shrunk and turned upwards, and his canines elongated. “My children! I’ll make you pay!”
“[Binding shadow chains].” While he was busy ranting, I calmly bound him in chains. It would be a start, but it wasn’t enough for what I had planned for the bastard. “Confound the thousand senses, and leave them adrift in the timeless void. Stumble in the deepest darkness, that no vision may penetrate. [Deo Noct]!” Immediately after the spell hit, his ranting was cut off, though his mouth kept moving. The chains dropped, and though he was free he didn’t try and move at all, which was perfectly fine by me. “[Twin oblivion dragons]. [Twin oblivion dragons]. [Twin oblivion dragons]. [Twin oblivion dragons].” I sent a silent prayer of thanks to whatever god or gods had allowed me to only have a one second cooldown on my skills, as I fully abused this. Each spell went and made a complete circle around a limb of Lucifer before exploding. Once Lucifer had been reduced to a limbless torso, I picked him up and bound him to the chair using stone manipulation.
“What? How? What did you do?” He cried in horror as Deo Noct wore off, allowing him to see his predicament.
“Shut your mouth.” I snarled, glaring at him. “There are so many things I wish to do to you right now, to prolong your agony. I want you to feel all the horror that little girl felt as you fused her with her own pet.” Taking a deep breath, I forcibly calmed myself. “However, I fear that is far beyond my power.”
“Heh, that’s right. I’m a lord of the Underdark-“
“I wasn’t finished.” I interrupted him, smashing his face with a backhanded slap. “While it is beyond my abilities, it isn’t beyond the gods.” Smiling, I drew the dagger Thanatos had given me so long ago. I reveled in the horror that crossed his face, as he looked at the dagger. “That’s right, this dagger will not only kill you but seal your soul within. Afterwards I’m going to go and deliver it to Thanatos.”
“No. NO. WAIT! I CAN GIVE YOU THINGS! I CAN MAKE YOU UGH!” I interrupted another of his tirades by slamming the dagger into his chest, and twisting it. With but a thought, stone crept forward and covered his mouth so that he couldn’t try and tempt me with any further offers. His life bar was already below a quarter, and twenty seconds later it was nearly depleted. Panicked, he struggled futilely as the last of his life bled away and the final diamond on the dagger turned black. I wiped it clean on his clothes, and turned and walked away through the silent ballroom.
A quick run of the manor revealed nothing living inside, so I headed out the front door and towards the hedge maze that still hadn’t recovered. Crossing that and then the graveyard, I saw a large group of drow standing on the other side of the gate. A female dropped down off the largest of the spiders they had, and stalked forward.
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“Angus, we are here to return you to Menzoberrazan.”
“On whose orders?” I asked with a glare.
“The council-“
“Fuck the council, I’m busy.” I snarled, turning back to face the manor while releasing my aura of impending doom. “Time to make a big impact everyone.” I whispered in prayer. Breathing in deep, I channeled everything I could. All the divine power that was at my disposal. With at least eight major gods, it was a lot. “Light, dark and gray. All pantheons bound in unity. Combine your might, unleash your anger. Raze the fruits of those who usurp the laws of this world. Burn to ash, burn the ash to nothingness. Cleanse this blight with fire and fury. [CONSUMING DIVINE WRATH].” Flinging my hands forward, waves of chaotic energies from all the gods burst forth, sweeping across the holdings of Lucifer. For ten minutes I channeled the spell, my mind focused on that poor little girl and her twisted fate. Suddenly the divine power cut off, leaving me panting. I could still feel one last bit, and thought back to Gaia’s words. “By Gaia’s will, let this barren land remain a reminder of lines not crossed.”
A new light left me, this one a mixture of dark green and violet. Wherever it touched, the land died. Fertile ground dried, cracked, and finally turned to blackened sand. This wave of destruction continued on, sweeping far past where I could see. I felt the divine power leave me, and the wings and my weapon returned to normal.
Boosted element discovered!
Rampaging through Lucifer’s compound with divine energy coursing through you has given you insight into the power behind light. You’ve learned the void is empty and seeks to consume. The light is opposite. Instead it focuses on certain aspects, and utterly rejects them. It seeks to completely remove it from this world. You now have access to Blessed Light.
Ignoring the notification for now, I turned to see a much subdued group of drow behind me. I smirked as they all refused to meet my gaze. “Don’t worry, I’ll not be holding the arrogance of the council against you.” I said, chuckling at the relieved sighs from the entire group. Who knew that channeling enough divine power to completely obliterate the holdings of a lord of the Underdark in minutes would be intimidating?
“If you don’t mind, sir, we would be honored to escort you back to the city. That is, if your business is concluded here.” The much subdued leader managed, though there was a slight tremor in her voice.
“Do you happen to have a ride for myself and Inkler here?” I asked, said cat appearing at my side with a purr.
“Of course.” She replied, snapping her fingers. The stablemaster I had berated earlier appeared, leading the same spider that brought us down here in the first place.
“So good to see you again, have they been treating you well?” I asked the spider, coming up and scratching his head. It preened under the attention, rubbing its head against my chest. “Come along Inkler, we can relax on the way back.” I said, getting him settled before climbing up myself. I made sure to secure all the leg straps, as I could feel exhaustion rapidly approaching. “Wake me when we are a half hour away from the city, I need a nap.” I ordered, getting several quick replies. Before long, I was fast asleep at the gentle rhythm of the spider.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Frank’s POV
I stopped reading yet another banal report to look at whoever was knocking on my doorframe. “Come on in.” I said to the pale faced tech, waving to a chair. Hopefully it will be something interesting.
“Um, sir? You remember the list of five things that we’re supposed to inform you of immediately?” He stammered out.
“Yes.” I drawled out the word, wishing he would get to the point.
“We have a situation 2.”
I stared at him. He stared back. Of the two of us, he was rapidly losing his composure. “And what exactly is a situation 2 again?”
“Ummmm, divine avenger?” He squeaked.
“Divine avenger? What about it? Nearly impossible to trigger.”
“There was a system wide announcement that one had descended. Sir.” He belatedly added.
“What are we waiting for? Let’s go figure it out!” I cried, nearly leaping out of my chair in my excitement. Something new! Something different! Something FUN! I practically skipped around the side of my desk, grabbing the stunned technician and dragging them behind me to the main floor. There I saw all six of my employees staring at their screens, hoping their fellow would return unharmed. I smiled as I realized there was no sounds of keys being pressed on keyboards and all the mice were sitting untouched.
“Alright everyone, relax. For those that don’t know, a divine avenger can only descend if a supermajority of the 9 gods agree something needs intervention. Our job is to find out what happened, and if we need to take steps to prevent it from happening again.”
“Um, sir?” Julee, one of my most experienced techs, turned in her chair to look at me. “How are we supposed to do that? We don’t have the name or location of the avatar.”
“We need to find a general location and work from there. The avatar will never be revealed to us, and often is simply a summoned creature from the gods. We need to know what got at least 7 gods from three pantheons to agree deserved smiting. Since you volunteered with your question, you get the easy job. Search for localized spikes in ambient mana. Thomas, a divine avatar almost always salts the earth after they leave. Look for mass death events. Similar to if someone were crazy enough to summon a meteor spell in the middle of a city. The rest of you-“
“Got it!” Julee shouted. “Looks like there was a massive spike in the Underdark.”
“Excellent. Keep narrowing down the location, there’s a lot of powers down there. Billy, Mandy, I need you two to search the monsters list. See if any major monsters have awakened recently and cross check their times with the spike that Julee found. Once you guys have the location down, everyone start going through the data logs for major events in that area, let’s see what we can ferret out.” I smiled as I watched them buckle down. New emergencies often scared the group, but give them a general direction to focus on and they went at it with gusto.
“Sir, should we put something out onto the message boards?” Amanda asked. Though the newest tech, she was showing a great head on her shoulders.
“Thanks for volunteering. Just a general admission for now, say we are looking into the incident and have no concrete data. We will update as we know more.” She nodded and turned back to her terminal, and I felt a slight tapping on my shoulder.
“Hey Frank, can I see you in your office for a second?” I turned to see a concerned Emily refusing to make eye contact.
“Sure. Can I get five minutes to get a better handle on this situation?”
“I think I know what the situation is about. One of my beta testers sent me a disturbing email.”
“Let’s go. Everyone, I’ll be back in a while. Julee, you’re in charge for now. No major releases of information unless I give the green light.” I said, turning and following Emily into my office. I walked around to my chair, and plopped down into it. “So, what’s our favorite beta tester gotten us into this time?” I asked.
“It’s Mar-. Wait, how did you know it was Marty?” She asked, shocked at my guess.
“Because he has boosted the life of this department more since he started testing for us than some of the major releases?”
“Right. Anyway, I got a disturbing email from him. In game. I. I’ll just forward it, attachment and all.” Obviously uncomfortable, I got a ping of a new email a few seconds later. It took seconds for me to read the email, and with growing dread I clicked on the attachment. I watched the clip several times in silence, growing more and more irate with each viewing.
“Thank you, Emily. If you don’t mind, I’ll be taking it from here.” I said, holding out a hand for her to shake. “I’ll be putting in a word for a small bonus for both you and Marty, for your actions to rapidly fix this issue.” That got a massive sigh of relief from her, as the tension drained from her shoulders.
“Thanks Frank. I knew you wouldn’t be upset with us, but. Well, that’s. Yeah.” She said, still lost at words for the video.
“I understand. Why don’t you go ahead and take the rest of the day off? I’ll clear it with Mike.”
“Thanks.” She replied with a bit of a sniffle. “I might-.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll explain it, and you just let us know when you can come back. If you feel like counseling will help, send an email to HR. They’ll keep everything confidential while keeping Mike informed.” Unable to speak, she just nodded and headed out. I sat back down and sent off an email to Mike explaining that Emily would be out for at least a day, and that he should approve all requests off from her for the next few days. That got a grim smile at least, as I knew Mike valued his empoyee’s health and would have no problem approving the time. A slightly more sanitized email went to HR, reporting that a traumatic experience might require some therapy sessions so that they could get the ball rolling on that.
“Alright everyone, please stop what you’re doing.” I announced as I made my way back into the pit. “I received word of what happened and that it is being taken care of. Julee, in a half hour I want you to look at the estate of Lucifer in the Underdark. If it is anything other than a barren wasteland I want you to inform me immediately. Amanda, if you could prepare a release that an NPC performed an experiment so heinous that the gods themselves demanded his death and that was the reason for the divine avenger. Release it only when Julee confirms that the estate is absolutely destroyed. Make no mention anywhere of the location or cause other than an experiment.” I got nods of acknowledgement from everyone and slowly made my way back to my desk.
I sat down with a sigh, energy draining out of me at the thought of what I had to do. After taking a minute for myself, I started looking through the designer logs on who made what. Someone was about to lose their job, and I wanted all my ducks in a row.